Jayson Williams has had the feeling. But that’s not necessarily a good thing. Because with the feeling comes pain. In his thumb.

“Sometimes I can feel my hand, sometimes I can’t,” said Williams, referring to the pain and subsequent reaction to pain killers from his ligament-damaged left thumb. “On the days I can feel my hand, I feel a lot better, a lot more confident. I’ve been taking different things over the last two weeks. It don’t take away as much of the pain, but I can feel my hand better. So feel your hand and have pain or don’t feel your hand and have no pain.”

Got all that?

Williams’ season started on a down note when he suffered a broken nose from an errant elbow from Dikembe Mutombo of the Hawks – the Nets’ opposition last night at the Meadowlands. Already, Williams was playing with thumb pain, resulting from a chop in training camp by then-assistant coach Jack Haley. Williams will have surgery. The only question is when.

Williams admits he has been ducking hand specialist Dr. Charles Melone, who already has recommended the surgery on the thumb be performed now and not be put off until the end of the season.

“Yeah, I have been [avoiding Melone]. I don’t want to hear that, ‘surgery now,'” Williams claimed. “But if he says it’s going to mess with the rest of my future for the next five years, then I have to have the surgery.”

Williams has been playing with what he called “the worst pain of my life.” In recent games, he has been absolutely heroic on the boards – and surprisingly effective in the offense. But Williams is paid to rebound and he has done that. Last night, he brought into the proceedings a remarkable 10-game run where he had grabbed no less than 12 rebounds per outing. In the 10-game stretch, he had 147 rebounds, 14.7 a game.

“He has been active from Day One,” interim coach Don Casey concurred.

And his active play has spilled over to the offensive side where, in the two-game absence of Keith Van Horn, Williams posted back-to-back 16-point games while shooting 14-of-21 (.667). Would that continue?

And so with this new-found source of offense, perhaps there is now more reason for Williams to try to put off the thumb surgery until the end of the season, provided he does not risk additional damage by playing.

“I hope he doesn’t [undergo the surgery now] for a lot of reasons, but I don’t want him to not do it if it impairs his career,” Casey stressed before addressing Williams’ increased offensive role. “He has made a claim. He informed me that he was one of our better post-up players. We were thinking about that. We gave him more [scoring opportunities in the low post] now, and he is. And any time we can cause double teams, fine.”

So Williams was prepared to bring his game up against one of the best defensive centers in the game, Mutombo, last night. And Williams was stressing his “game,” not his “nose.” He insists the Mutombo elbow that shattered his schnozz back in February was purely accidental, despite all the whispers of a lockout payback. Mutombo, of course, was a union leader during the lockout. Williams stirred stuff up to get action.

“The more and more I watch the tape, the more I see it was an accident,” said Williams. “Now I don’t want to get hit again. An accident’s manslaughter, you’ve still got to do time, right?

“The nose is still squeaking. I’m going to get that fixed after the season. I’ll have it all done at the same time,” Williams said. “Knock me out, have the hand guy come in and the nose guy. Get it all done at once.”

But for Williams, the key phrase there was “after the season.” The season is lost for the Nets, but he insists he’s going to continue playing. As long as he has the feeling. Or not.